When Ryan Madson turned down an $11 million option to pitch for the Reds in 2013, two things jumped to mind:

• Teams must be planning to spend a ton of money this winter if a reliever who missed the entire season thinks he can score a bigger salary;

• Coming back from Tommy John surgery has become as routine as coming back from a sprained thumb.

As it turnd out, Madson declined his side of a mutual option because he knew the Reds were going to decline their side. He was given a $2.5 million buyout and is moving on.

But the two points still hold. Why else would Scott Boras be seeking a multi-year deal for Madson to close?

Much the same holds for Joakim Soria who, like Madson, did not pitch in 2012 because he underwent an elbow-ligament replacement surgery. After the Royals declined his $8 million option, Soria also is seeking an immediate return to closing. He would make an exception for the Yankees if they bring back Mariano Rivera, his agent told ESPNNewYork.com.

Though the free-agent market is off to a somewhat slow start, a signing bar already has been established for relievers. When the Dodgers signed Brandon League to a three-year, $22.5 million deal last week, relievers across the land were smiling. That’s big money for a reliever who owns a career 3.60 ERA and isn’t expected to close. At least League was healthy and durable, making 74 appearances last season.

Committing so much to a pitcher coming off Tommy John surgery is riskier. Yes, most pitchers these days make successful comebacks after Tommy John surgery. But the notion they return better than before is not accurate, according to future Hall of Famer John Smoltz.

The way Smoltz sees it — and he had Tommy John — pitchers will return to their previous level. “If you’re a Class AA pitcher and you have Tommy John, you’re going to return a Class AA pitcher, not a major league pitcher,” he says.

Also overlooked is that pitchers don’t just pick up where they left off before surgery. Look at Cardinals right-hander Adam Wainwright. He finished with respectable numbers — 14-13, 3.94 ERA and 198 2/3 innings (plus 15 more in the post-season) — but would be the first to say his comeback didn’t go as he expected.

Instead of pitching like he did when he was runner-up in Cy Young voting in 2010, Wainwright endured an up-and-down season that, by the end, he realized was because of Tommy John surgery.

“I totally get now why recovery is so hard,” he said before a post-season start. “Just your arm just takes awhile to get back, it really does, and it’s hard for me to say that because I thought I was going to be the exception to the rule. “But it takes a while.”

Whether or not it takes a while to be paid accordingly remains to be seen for Madson and Soria.